Charles Simonyi
Charles Simonyi is a Hungarian-American software architect, entrepreneur, and private astronaut. He is best known in spaceflight history as the first private citizen to make two orbital trips.
- Born
- September 10, 1948
- Died
- N/A
- Birthplace
- Budapest,Hungary
Flights
2
Spacewalks
0
EVA time
N/A
In space
26 days, 14 hours, 25 minutes
Bio
Before his flights, Simonyi played a major role in personal-computing history, including early Microsoft applications work that led toward Word and Excel. His career brought a software pioneer into the ISS visitor program at a time when private orbital access was still rare.
He first launched aboard Soyuz TMA-10 and returned on Soyuz TMA-9 in 2007. He flew again in 2009, launching on Soyuz TMA-14 and returning on Soyuz TMA-13, making him the first repeat private spaceflight participant.
Simonyi's record is important because it showed that private orbital flight was not limited to a one-time novelty. His two missions tested the repeatability of training, medical clearance, Soyuz crew integration, and short-duration ISS visitor operations.